The present invention relates to a book holder device. More particularly the invention relates to a telephone directory holder for use in public telephone enclosures and the like which permits the telephone directory to be rapidly and easily changed while affording increased security from inadvertent loss or vandalism.
Telephone directories made available for use in public areas, where little or no supervision over the telephone enclosure or directory can be offered, suffer from extremes of weather, abuse by the customer, and substantial vandalism. In an attempt to protect telephone directories from such harm and extend their useful life, a variety of telephone directory holders have developed which offer protective covering to the telephone directory as well as a means for retaining the directory within the holder to prevent theft and vandalism of the directory.
The means by which the directory is retained in the directory holder presents two competing considerations. On the one hand strength, durability, and resistance to disassembly of the directory securing device are required to withstand the harsh environment. On the other hand, the ability to rapidly and easily disassemble the directory securing device is also required to reduce maintenance. The latter feature is necessary so that in situations where a large number of directories are being utilized the process of updating the directory does not consume an inordinate amount of time. Therefore, these two competing considerations work against one another in the development of directory holding devices which are at once strong and secure and yet present ease and rapidity of directory changeover.
Previous directory holders involve metal rods or rectangular metal strips which are interleaved with pages of the directory to traverse the length of the spine of the telephone directory. The metal rods or strips are then locked into a variety of end pieces which secure the directory within a binder. Typically, however, these metal rods or strips may become misaligned or bent during the course of use or during reinsertion into the directory holder. Once bent from alignment they no longer perform their function satisfactorily. In addition, where the metal rod or strip is simply bent or bowed for insertion into the directory holder, unauthorized removal of the telephone directory is possible as there is no protective means to prevent the disengagement of the rods or strips by other parties.
As alluded to above, an additional problem arises when substantial security is incorporated into a directory holder design. Generally, the greater the security offered by the directory holder the more difficult is the removal of the directory in the field and the more complicated the changeover to a substitute directory volume. Where multiple rods or metal strips are utilized to hold the directory in place, it is especially difficult to align the rods with the pages of the directory while working in the field. Such designs can add substantially to the time and cost of changing over to new directories. In addition, these designs utilize a securing feature, a rod or a metal strip which is intergal with the binder portion of the directory holder. Thus the entire changeover process must be accomplished in the field rather than permitting a portion of the work to be completed at a more convenient site.